Pedro Checa Rifa, PhD Student

Contact:

Pedro.Checa-Rifa@warwick.ac.uk

Research interests

• Medical device design and maintenance

• Artificial Intelligence

• Biomedical signal processing

• 3D printing
• Sustainability of medical devices

Biography

Born in Almería, Spain, and received the International Baccalaureate diploma in 2021. He is currently advancing his postgraduate education at the University of Warwick, having completed his BEng in Biomedical Systems Engineering (with Honours, 2:1) in 2024. Pedro recently completed an MSc in Diagnostics, Data and Digital Health (with Distinction) and has been awarded a full scholarship for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering (2025-2029).

His main research interests have expanded to include frugal innovation for medical devices (specifically in diabetic neuropathies), Machine/Deep Learning models for diagnosis and screening, regulatory compliance, the sustainability of medical devices, and biomedical signal processing. Since 2022, he has been supporting the ABSPIE Lab as a Research Assistant, where he processes complex biomedical datasets, assists with systematic literature reviews, and co-authors peer-reviewed articles. Pedro has contributed to and managed data for large-scale European pilot studies. His work has been published and presented at international conferences, including the IUPESM World Congress and the 9th EMBEC Conference.

Publications

Vignigbé M, Maccaro A, Checa Rifà P, Piaggio D, Pecchia L. Précaution ou prévention? Des responsabilités de la politique et de la société pendant la gestion de la pandémie de COVID-19 au Bénin. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d'études du développement. 2024 Jan 6:1-6.

L Montesinos, P Checa Rifá, M Rifá Fabregat, J Maldonado-Romo, D Piaggio, L Pecchia. Sustainability across the medical device lifecycle: a scoping review. Sustainability 16 (4), 1433

Wallace, J., Checa Rifá, P., Kannathasan, T., Hayfron-Benjamin, C. F., Anyanwu, P., & Piaggio, D. (2025). A frugal arduino-based spirometer for low-resource settings: design, development and validation of a preliminary prototype. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 13, 1664127.

Conferences

1st Africa regional biomedical engineering and health technology conference (Kenya, 2023) (Presenter)

Global Perspectives on Innovative Development and Regulatory Compliance in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Industries (China, 2024)

9th European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference (Slovenia, 2024) (Presenter)

IUPESM World Congress 2025 (Australia, 2025) (Presenter)

Awards

Head of School Award - Diagnostics, Data and Digital Health (Jan 2026)

IFMBE Travel Fellowship World Congress 2025

Merit Award Toh-Low Siek Student Design Competition World Congress 2025

School of Engineering PhD Scholarship

School of Engineering Taught Master’s Scholarship